


your safe ride home (when you call)

by orphan_account



Category: AOA | Ace of Angels, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Developing Relationship, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-07-06 10:18:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15884052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Mina's life is in shambles and her only recourse is to move in with a near stranger. Yoongi, as usual, is hard to read. Roommates AU.





	your safe ride home (when you call)

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote a bunch of fic for this pairing for a friend a while back. Kind of just feel like they'll fit well together. If you actually clicked on this, I hope you enjoy.
> 
> Originally Written: September 2016

 

 

  


Like with most things in Mina’s life, it’s her best friend who helps her out when she’s feeling pretty desperate; just her luck, Hyejeong’s boyfriend is going on a year abroad apprenticeship abroad, and half of the two bedroom apartment where he lived in was going to be free.

The obvious solution would be for Mina to just move in with Hyejeong, of course, but her friend is absolutely lovestruck - or perhaps, just In A Very Serious Relationship with her boyfriend of three years, so Mina supposes she can’t really begrudge her friend the decision of going with Jin to Japan. Besides, Hyejeong had let go of her apartment a month ago, after plans with her boyfriend had been finalised - she figured it was better if she saved all her money up, and had promptly moved in with her parents. Obviously, neither of them expected that Mina will soon be homeless, and in need of whatever her best friend could offer with regards to living accommodations.

So now here she is, about to move in with a complete (for the most part) stranger because she’s desperate. Despite her best friend having been with the same guy for years now, she’s only really met Jin’s roommate once before, and he hadn’t exactly given her the best first impression. Granted, it hadn’t been a completely bad impression either - really, it was more of a non-impression.

All he had done was grunt at her during the introduction, eyebrows quirking as if he was studying her. Mina had felt under scrutiny, so the smile she gave Yoongi probably wasn’t the most welcoming either, but in the end he _did_ offer a smile back, at least - but more than that, they didn’t really have any more of an exchange. Mina assures herself that this shouldn’t really be a bad thing now that he’s going to be her roommate; at least it just means that he’ll most likely keep to himself, and she can choose to do the same. This isn’t normally the attitude that Mina adopts with people - old, normal Mina is positive, open, friendly. But she isn’t really feeling like her old self these days, and this is how she tries to convince herself that living with someone she doesn’t really know or care about, is the perfect solution to her troubles.

For the last week and a half when Mina’s life has been in limbo, she’s been squatting at Hyejeong’s parents as well. They’ve been kind enough, and Mina knows they like her - but she can also tell they were not particularly pleased by her mooching off them.  She knows it probably also has something to do with _how_ she ended up without a place to live in; in retrospect, Mina feels quite disapproving of herself from a several months ago.

  
  


Love; no matter how much Mina tried to be rational and realistic, she used to live in a bubble when it came to love. Hyejeong had always been supportive, but Jimin had warned her once: Mina, you’re just in love with the idea of being in love. She refused to listen, of course, and perhaps that’s how she ended up moving in with her then boyfriend of only a hundred and ten days.

They say hindsight is 20/20, and as she looks back at things, Mina’s inclined to agree. In her defense, she felt really in love at the time. It doesn’t matter how short the relationship was - Daehyun was someone who felt like home. That probably has something to do with his loud laughter and his prominent accent, and the way he _somehow_ smelled like Busan air when she was in his arms. He _felt_ like she was home, and when the lease to her old apartment was up, that had made the decision to move in with him all the more easier.

How was she supposed to know that just sixty-eight days later they were going to separate for good?

It feels like it’s for good anyway; Mina doesn’t know if she wants it to be, because half the time she still thinks of showing up at his doorstep and begging her to take him back. If it weren’t for Hyejeong and Jimin, the latter especially because Hyejeong is more the listen-and-comfort type, constantly reminding her that it’s a bad idea, she probably would have done exactly that already.

“If he doesn’t come and try for you, you deserve better.” These are the words that her best friends drill into her over and over, except what Mina never tells them is that it doesn’t really help. Her heart feels like it’s been broken in a thousand tiny pieces and she has no idea how to put it back together.

  
  


The second time Mina meets Yoongi is on the day that she moves in.

Jin and Hyejeong are kind enough to help her with her things - thankfully, she doesn’t have that much on her anymore. Most of her life’s possessions are still in her family’s old house in Busan, and the rest of her accumulated belongings were cut in half because she’d had to dispose of most of them when she’d moved into Daehyun’s tiny studio apartment. (And here is where she’d once again wonder what she’d been thinking when she allowed herself to do that, but instead she tries to convince herself that sometimes it’s better if she isn’t such a hoarder, and occasionally getting rid of baggage is the best way to live.)

Yoongi doesn’t really seem very keen, or even at all interested in lending a helping hand, but Jin makes him. To be fair, a simple “Hey man, how about you get your ass off the couch for once?” is all it takes, and even though he’s grumbling under his breath, he does carry in some of the heavier boxes.

“Thank you.” Her smile is genuine, if a little shy, when Yoongi pushes the final box into her room. He nods while wiping the sweat on his brow, and for several seconds they stand there in her small bedroom, regarding each other awkwardly. She doesn’t know what else to say after expressing her gratefulness; she notices him open his mouth and she assumes that he’s about to say something in return, but then Hyejeong’s voice is cutting through the walls, announcing that pizza has arrived, and Yoongi is letting out a chuckle before heading right back out.

Mina soon follows, but now she’s beginning to wonder if her new roommate can even speak, or in general communicate aside from grunts and knowing smirks, but then she walks into  the kitchen and he doesn’t seem to be at a loss for words at all.

“Get a fucking room you two,” he’s saying, his expression a strange cross between amused and exasperated. “I think that’s the one thing I’m _not_ going to miss the most - walking on the two of you being disgusting all the time.”

And even though Mina doesn’t necessarily know what just happened, there’s something about the way he says it that suddenly has her laughing. “Is that a thing, really?” She asks, walking past them to the sink so she can wash her hands first before helping herself to a slice of pizza. Despite all the years of knowing Jin and Hyejeong, and despite the fact that Mina and Hyejeong share everything, down to the details of their intimate lives with each other, the image of the two of them doing PDA with Yoongi around is very funny to Mina.

“Don’t believe him!” Hyejeong near shrieks, throwing one of the plastic spoon towards a laughing Yoongi who easily evades it. _At least he can speak and laugh_ , Mina thinks to herself, just giggling as she watches the scene in front of her with amusement.

  
  


Jin decides to leave his car with Yoongi, and so when it’s time for them to go, it’s also the four of them who head to the airport. Goodbyes are said, and Mina practically bawls her eyes out saying goodbye to her best friend, while Yoongi and Jin just give each other casual punches on the shoulder. (“ _Men_ ,” Hyejeong half sobs into Mina’s ear, because despite their sadness at getting separated, they both still have enough humor in them to laugh at boys being stupid with affection.)

The ride home is more than a little awkward. Mina and Yoongi have been living together for 2 days and 3 nights, but for some reason they’ve managed to avoid being alone together in such a confined space.

“So.” Typical of her, Mina attempts conversation. She’s always hated silence - mostly because it makes her think _too much_ , and when that happens, the thoughts are never pretty. “It’s nice and sunny today - I hope they have a good flight.” She has absolutely no idea what to say though, and she’s pretty sure a mundane comment about the weather has Yoongi finding her just as dull as her topic of choice.

 

She sighs and closes her eyes, letting a few seconds pass until she truly gets restless because of the silent tension in the car. “Can I--?” She takes her iPod out, gesturing with the connector towards the car’s sound system. If they’re not going to talk, at least she can fill her head with music.

He actually looks a little skeptical (if she was to guess, it’s probably because he doesn’t think they would have the same taste in music - but that’s okay, Mina’s quite doubtful herself), but in the end he shrugs and nods in agreement. Soon enough an old song by The Kooks is blasting out loud, completely eliminating the strange silence from earlier. Mina’s head automatically starts bobbing, lyrics softly spilling past her lips as she sings along quietly. She catches a glimpse of Yoongi from the corner of her eye, his eyebrow quirking and his lips twitching in obvious amusement. Soon, he’s bobbing his head and humming along with the song, and Mina has to pretend to cough so she doesn’t laugh or giggle outright.

“I wouldn’t have pegged you as the type to listen to this.” Mina had been about to open her mouth to ask if he’s enjoying the music, but for once he actually beats her to talking. “I would have thought you’d be the bubblegum pop type of girl,” he goes on to admit.

Mina can only laugh - it’s not like she thinks herself above that kind of music. She has a playlist dedicated solely to upbeat pop songs, but then she’s always been the type to listen to a wide range of music. A lot of the music in her iPod tend to surprise people, but all she knows is that she likes what she likes.  

It pleases her, though, when the smile on Yoongi’s face stays as the song changes; each time he looks amused - and every now and then he’d even sing along. Mina wants to tease him, but she doesn’t want to ruin the mood either, so instead she sings even louder, not caring if her voice cracks every now and then.

  
  


Strangely enough, it takes Mina two weeks before she learns what Yoongi actually does for a living. When she’d first asked Jin, the only answer she’d gotten was “odd jobs here and there.” She knows that Yoongi chose to drop out of university a couple of years ago, but she never learned why. One day though, she comes home and finds his portfolio lying around in the living room.

She probably shouldn’t have been too quick to pick it up, but she reasons that the living room is a common area so anything left there should be free game; besides, Mina is a naturally curious being, so if Yoongi doesn’t want her in his business, then he should never leave his things available for her perusal.

“You’re a photographer,” she comments, when he gets home and finds her with his open portfolio in her hands. If she’s to be honest, she would say that a lot of his pictures had left her in awe. They were _beautiful_ , but she feels shy about admitting that out loud - she’s always had an appreciation for art (it was just an unfortunate fact that art didn’t seem to feel the same way about her).

She half expects him to rip the thing out of her hands, but instead he just looks surprised - maybe even a little embarrassed. “Uh, yeah,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck as he takes a seat next to her. “I’m trying to be - rent’s not easy, so I have a couple of part time jobs, but I’ve been interning with this professional photographer for half a year now and it’s great.” He even offers a lopsided smile at her, and Mina could tell he’s being genuine, and that he’s like this because he’s actually very proud of his work.

She realises that he knows exactly what he wants to do, and she’s a little jealous. All she’s doing with her life is forcing herself to finish a degree that she doesn’t particularly feel passionate about, even though she’s at least she’s good at it. Yoongi doesn’t even have to say much, but just from his expression, mina could feel his passion, and she wishes she could have that.

“This one’s my favorite,” she tells him, opening the book to a picture with a young girl and boy, both smiling from ear to ear; the girl had a melting popsicle in one of her hands while the other was clasped with the boy’s.

“Those are kids who live in the same street as my parents do,” he explains, still smiling. “In Daegu.”

And as he continues to talk about the pictures - which his favorites are, and the stories behind them - Mina realises that this is probably the most that Yoongi has ever said to her in one sitting. Not that she’s bothered; she kind of likes it.  She’s learning all these little things abt her roommate and she thinks it feels nice.

  
  


Mina starts wanting to learn more about Yoongi, but even though he feels more human to her now, he still doesn't really seem like he wants much to do with her. The way she sees it, Yoongi can be a little temperamental; he has his moods and for now she hasn't fully figured out how to navigate around them so she tries her best not to get in his way.

It's one Friday evening that things change. She comes home, and he doesn't seem to be around; she feels good about this because she'd just had a horrific run-in with Daehyun earlier that afternoon.

Okay, maybe 'horrific' is laying it on thick, but it had been incredibly awkward. It was at the university library, the last place she would ever expect her ex-boyfriend to hang out. She'd been with a girl, and just that was enough to make Mina want to melt into a thick puddle of goo. Even after he'd gone out of his way to explain that he was only with his project partner (without her even needing to ask!), she'd still mumbled the quickest goodbye she can, before shuffling away and almost tripping over her own two feet in the process.

 

All she wants to do is get the experience out of her head; she wants to be nothing but be a cliche and stuff junk food down her throat and sob her eyes out while watching some depressing yet hopeful chick flick.

She's in the middle of a good cry - My Sassy Girl's Gyeonwoo is in the middle of his "Things You Need To Know" speech - when Yoongi creeps up behind her. "What are you watching?" He asks, voice low and weirdly… enticing.

Mina's entire body flinches, mostly in surprise but also partly because his warm breath against her ear feels really ticklish. “Yah!” She screeches automatically, the bowl of popcorn on her lap turning over as she reacts to his presence. “Don’t do that!” She cries out, her heart beating profusely as she tries to gather pieces of popcorn of the floor and the couch.

Yoongi is laughing at her, and as he moves to take a seat on the sofa next to her, she instantly becomes self conscious. She furiously wipes her cheeks against her shirt sleeve - but that  obviously isn’t going to do anything about how red her eyes are.

“Were you _crying_?” He asks, watching her with curious eyes, clearly entertained. “Is that Jeon Jihyun?” He continues, making himself comfortable even though it should be obvious that this is a pity party for one.”I’ve actually never seen this movie you know.”

She glares at him, silently debating in her head the merits of possibly throwing a fit and yelling at him to leave her alone, but in the end she just sighs, and relaxes her shoulders. “Do you want some?” She mumbles, awkwardly holding forward the open pint of ice cream she had on her. She figures she might as well share if he’s going to be there with her; she offers the entire plethora of junk she has chosen to binge on - ice cream, chips, cookies - everything, save for the popcorn because half of it was already on the floor, and it was kind of stale anyway.

Despite him looking quite comfortable on the couch, she still half-expects him to decline the food, but he actually reaches for the open bag of potato chips himself, and soon he’s asking her what’s going on in the movie.

“We can rewind,” she offers, her voice soft. Her cheeks are still damp from the earlier waterworks, and that makes her feel shy. He shrugs in response, and soon the movie is starting right from the beginning. She remains quiet, but every time he’d let out a chuckle at something happening on screen, she’d casually turn to watch him; he’s cute in his own way, she realises, especially when he looks like he’s having a good time.

She tries to hold back tears when the same scene rolls around for the second time. She can feel Yoongi’s eyes on her, as if expecting her to break down and it makes her squirm in her seat. “Stop,” she mumbles, jabbing his side with her elbow and just taking a big bite out of a chocolate chip cookie. She manages to survive that scene, but not ten minutes later, there’s another scene that easily pulls at her emotions, and soon enough tears are once again uncontrollably falling down her cheeks.

 

Mina immediately turns away from Yoongi, not wanting him to see her like this. It’s embarrassing, really, and when she feels the weight of his hand on his shoulder she tries her best to shrug it off. But then he’s offering her a handkerchief, and the fact that he has one on him is as much a surprise to her as the fact that he’s actually _offering_ , instead of making a sarcastic teasing comment.

“Thanks,” she mumbles, taking the piece of cloth and dabbing her eyes with it. Slowly she turns back around to face him, and the next thing she knows is that he’s awkwardly (but gently) pulling her in with his arm.

As she sobs on his shoulder, she can feel that he understands perfectly  - her tears have nothing to do with the movie at all, but he’s not judging her for any of it.

  
  


You would think that after baring her emotions front of her roommate, Mina would feel even more embarrassed around Yoongi; except the exact opposite happens. Things become easier between them, and she starts feeling so shy towards him. She figures if he’s seen her at her worst and he still acted like a decent human being, then she should learn to stop watching herself with him.

“Thank you,” she writes on a post-it note that she leaves stuck on his door the morning after.

  
  


One day, when she comes home after a double shift at her part time retail work, she finds someone leaving the house. It’s a guy that she’s pretty sure she has never seen before; she almost literally bumps into the male after she opens the door, and she finds him on his way out.

"Sorry," she mumbles automatically, only to be met with a wide grin and a pat to her shoulder.

"It's okay, I'm sorry too," the guy says, his accent thick, even though Mina couldn't quite place it immediately. Before she can further reply, he's giving her a quick salute and jogging down the corridor, leaving Mina confused as she enters the apartment.

Yoongi passes in front of her with a bottle of water, his top off and his hair tousled. It's not like he's completely indecent, but Mina feels the need to look to the side anyway. "Who--" Her voice sounds squeaky, so she has to clear her throat before speaking again; for some reason her cheeks feel really warm. "Who was that just now?" She tries again as she carefully toes her shoes of by the doorway.

 

"Hmm?" Yoongi glances towards her direction; his eyes are droopy, but he looks quite... satisfied. That's really the only word Mina can think of to describe it.

"Uh, the guy just now?" She mumbles, still unable to look at him. It's not even as if Yoongi is built, or particularly cut; he's quite skinny in fact, and truthfully too pale for Mina's liking, but she still feels weird, having him just stand there casually, half naked. "Also, geez, put a shirt on," she adds so quickly that her words practically mesh together.

His reply begins with laughter, and Mina's pretty sure her face just turns a deeper shade of red because of it. "That was my -" He pauses, like he needs to give his answer a thought, and Mina forces herself to look up to check for his expression. "That was just Hoseok," he says finally, shrugging his shoulders before heading on back to his room.

"Oh," is all she can say back, but it doesn't matter because he probably doesn't hear it. Puzzle pieces slowly fall together in her head, and as the picture becomes clear, a foreign, prickly feeling grows in her chest. She doesn't know why it feels weird; it's because she never would have thought that Yoongi is... one of those, she tells herself. A guy who's into other guys.

She doesn't feel disgusted, even though she can easily name at least ten people in her head who she knows would react that way. It's not a dealbreaker for her, and she insists to herself that it just makes living in such close proximity with Yoongi all that easier; she assures herself that she just needs some time to get used to the idea, and she proceeds to push back down the strange frustration nagging at her.

  
  


When winter rolls around, Mina attends a customary party thrown by her seniors at school. At first, she's skeptical - she isn't much of a prude, but she doesn't really like drinking when she's surrounded by people she isn't really close with. It's Christmas season though, and Jimin insists that it would be good for her to be surrounded by other single people. "You might even meet someone there," is how the older female puts it.

She considers it in her head, and somehow, the image of her staying home on the couch watching Home Alone and feeling completely _alone_ while Yoongi fucks some guy in his room depresses the hell out of her, and she caves in. Never mind that Yoongi has never really brought any one else home, ever, at least not with her around - Mina gives in anyway,  and even allows Jimin free reign on picking out an outfit for her to wear at the party.

Unfortunately, reality has a tendency to be worse than Mina's fantastic imagination. Within fifteen minutes at the gathering, she easily spots Daehyun in a corner of the room, with some unknown female clinging to his side. She isn't that tall, but she's quite leggy, and Mina is pretty sure that if they were to stand side by side, the other woman would tower over her by several centimeters.

 

When Daehyun catches her looking, he's quick to lift a hand as a greeting. There's a sick feeling at the pit of her stomach, and after forcing himself to give her a tiny wave back, Mina looks away. She thought she'd been doing better on the moving on front, but apparently it still stings a lot.

"Are they--?" She asks, turning to Jimin for answers.

"I have no idea," her friend tells her, pausing before heaving a sigh and steering Mina towards another direction. "I thought you knew that he'd begun seeing other people though."

Mina feels her eyes grow hot, and she quickly blinks rapidly, doing her best to hold back the obvious tears threatening to fall. "Unnie, I need a drink."

The next thing she knows is that it's late, and Yoongi is there. Him and Jimin are trying to help her into Jin’s car, but she feels sick to her stomach. She groans, and uses what energy she has left to turn away from car door, luckily just in time before she's heaving and something unpleasant is making it's way back up her throat. Soon she's crouching down the sidewalk, puking everything she'd drank (and eaten) the entire evening into the gutter.

"It's okay, I got her." Yoongi's voice sounds disconnected, yet concerned. She assumes he's talking to Jimin, and she wants to protest - say that she'd rather have the older female take care of her. But for now she's too preoccupied regurgitating her dinner and more, that she barely even understands the resolution of Jimin and Yoongi's conversation.

"I'm sad," she blurts out unthinkingly, once she feels like there's nothing left to vomit; Yoongi's just right there, holding her hair back and stroking his free hand along her back.

"It's okay to be," he tells her, his voice calm and reassuring. "Now let's get you back home."

  
  


"You don't remember anything from last night, do you?" The question is posed at Mina as Yoongi places a warm cup of coffee in front of her, together with a piece of toast on a plate. "Eat up, that usually helps with my hangovers," he explains with a finger tap against the side of the plate.

All Mina can do is stare ahead blankly; the side of her head is throbbing and all she wants to do is cut her head open, because at the moment that feels like it's going to hurt much less. "Thank you," she mumbles, cringing because every single movement, even small ones, hurts.

 

She pokes at the toast, and nods as she carefully picks it up. "It- yeah." She mumbles before taking a small bite off the corner. He's right, she barely recalls anything from the night before. She has a few hazy memories at most - most of them featuring Daehyun and that girl, which are the ones she wants to forget the most. She vaguely recalls getting home and throwing up some more in the toilet, with Yoongi sounding exasperated, yet staying by her side during the entire ordeal.

"Let's play a sober drinking game," Yoongi volunteers, his tone lightly teasing, with his hands wrapped around his own cup of coffee.

Mina glares at him warily, staying silent and slowly chewing on her bread. Yoongi doesn't really wait - in fact he doesn't seem to care at all for a response as he just continues to talk. "I've never," he says, pausing as the corner of his lips turn up into a smirk. "I've never been so shitfaced that my roommate has had to hold my hair back as I threw up over and over again."

Mina groans, and Yoongi laughs; She'd been hoping that a lot of that was just a dream. Still, she plays along, and with a heavy sigh, she takes a slow, lingering sip of coffee. "You're an ass," she mutters. "But thank you. For last night."

"Your turn," he tells her, looking quite entertained as he knocks on the surface of the table.

"Fine," she mutters, rolling her eyes and cringing because even doing just that adds on to her headache. "I've never been such a jerkface to my roommate," she retorts, earning her even more laughter from Yoongi before he takes a good, long sip of coffee.

"Feisty when hung over," he notes, raising his cup towards her in a teasing fashion. He looks poised to make another 'I've Never' comment, but Mina feels tired, and even though she appreciates Yoongi's attempt at making her smile, she cuts him off before he can finish his statement.

“I’ve never had my heart completely smashed and broken,” she comments, her tone soft, yet resigned. She flashes a faint smile at her roommate, mockingly lifting her cup towards him as well before completely downing what's left of her coffee in one go. It's warm, bitter and it scorches her throat but she finds that she doesn't really care.

When she opens her eyes, she finds that Yoongi is looking at her with a concerned expression; it embarrasses her so she lets out soft, self-deprecating laughter. When she looks away, he sighs and shakes his head, quickly moving closer so he can reach forward and affectionately ruffle her hair.

“He’s a stupid fuck if he hasn’t tried to put it back together,” he tells her, his tone completely even and serious, without a trace of teasing or playfulness.

For some reason, this puts a genuine smile on Mina's face. "Thank you," she whispers, her voice soft and barely audible, closing her eyes as she puts her now empty cup down on the table. “For everything.”

  
  


She doesn't understand it, but soon she finds that being near Yoongi now brings a calming effect to her. She starts spending more time with him, occasionally dragging him out with her to walks, to coffee, to movies, even. Strangely enough, he acquiesces most of the time and while it baffles Mina how easygoing he's being with her, she decides not to question any of it.

Her e-mails to Hyejeong are soon filled with stories about Yoongi, but she doesn't realise it until her best friend points it out.

_"I'm glad you and Yoongi are getting along so well, but don't make it sound like you don't miss me at all!"_

Mina is aware that her best friend's only joking, but it does make her look back and skim through some of her most recent letters. Yoongi... Yoongi, more Yoongi. The amount of stories she has about her roommate makes her blush, and she composes another response to Hyejeong, she consciously holds back on a few stories.

Her heart thumps loudly when she clicks the send button; she feels self conscious, and just the idea of her developing feelings for Yoongi is enough to have her chest constrict. .

_It's never going to happen_ , she tells herself. She's finally come to terms that Yoongi like guys; not that they've ever talked about it out loud, but she's dropped hints here and there about her knowing - and he's never, not once, denied any of it. If anything, he always just looks highly amused when she makes comments, and she knows it's because he enjoys watching her trip over her own words.

_P.S. I want to move out, so I'm going to start looking at other apartments. That's okay to do, right?_

She's quick to write a quick postscript e-mail to Hyejeong, and as soon as she does it, she feels that it's easier to breathe again. A little space would help, she assures herself, opening another tab so she can look up some real estate listings.

  
  


"You want to move out?" Not even two days later, Yoongi is barging into her room, sounding quite annoyed.

She looks up at him, eyes wide and tongue tied. She assumes that he heard from Jin, who was obviously told by her loudmouthed best friend. Mina  doesn't know how to answer, because even though her search has proven fruitless so far, she hasn't stopped trying to look. "I'm -"

"Don't be stupid," Yoongi cuts her off. "And don't be fucking selfish."

She feels small; she recalls now why he'd agreed to let her stay in the first place - because she helped with the rent, and he isn't exactly making bank with the minimum wage part-time jobs he's working. At least she still gets some allowance from back home, and her retail job more than helps with utilities and the monthly rent.

"I'm sorry," she mumbles, taking a deep breath and looking down at her feet. She feels upset too, but it's more because she hates the angry and disappointed look on Yoongi's face. "I promise I won't leave before we can find someone else to move in," she tells him, doing her best to sound confident but reassuring.

"Fuck, you don't even get it at all, do you?" Yoongi shakes his head, and just turns away, slamming her bedroom door behind him.

  
  
  


Not five days later, when she's in the middle of writing an essay for her Lit class when Yoongi walks into her room - he seems quite comfortable doing that these days, without even a knock, but Mina bites her tongue from making a comment about that.

"I need your help," he explains, making himself comfortable on her bed, a thick binder cradled in his arms. "My boss told me to give him a collection of my best photos - I think he wants to submit them at this local gallery so I can get my own showing."

She wonders if this means that they're both pretending that the fight never happened. Mina feels grateful about this, about how Yoongi just continues to act normal around her - she doesn't know how she'd be able to explain her sudden desire for a new living arrangement just when they started to really get along.

"What do you need me for?" She asks, cautious because she's scared he might still suddenly snap at her if she says the wrong thing.

"Help me decide which pictures I should include," he  says, flipping open the booklet he was carrying, right in the middle.

It doesn't seem like he's still thinking about her moving out; just as well because he sounds really excited at the prospect of his own show. She's happy for him, so she stops over thinking, and instead just moves to sit beside him on the bed. "Okay," she tells him, doing her best to ignore the fact that she can easily inhale the scent of his shampoo due to their close proximity. "Show me the choices."

As usual, Yoongi gets a little chatty when it comes to his work. Mina doesn't even really have to do anything except laugh and nod - she knows he's the one who is going to pick which pictures to submit, and he just needs her as his sounding board.

She lets him flip the pages on his own pace, only making small comments of approval here and there, at least until a particular picture catches her eye. "Wait," she pipes up, as he starts to flip the page away from the picture of a smiling girl. "Who's that?" She doesn't know what makes her curious - maybe it's something about her expression, or the composition of the photograph. Either way, there's something about her that Yoongi had managed to capture that has Mina intrigued.

"Oh, her." There's a quiet fondness in his tone, that has Mina turning to face him with curiosity. He doesn't really look like he wants to say more, but she just fixes a stare on him, hoping that he'll give in and tell her more. He turns, and when their eyes meet, she feels her cheeks grow warm, but she stands her ground and continues to stare.

"Fine." He sighs with resignation, and she grins when he looks away first - there aren't a lot of things that she can win over with Yoongi, she thinks. "She's someone I used to know." She still doesn't turn away, and when he chuckles and ruffles her hair, she knows she really has won. "Ex-girlfriend. Let's move on now, shall we?" He continues, quick to turn the page again, and she knows that's the most he's willing to say for now.

Still, his words take her back as she lets them settle. Ex- _girlfriend_. The gears of her brain are turning a mile a minute - has she been mistaken all along? He's already in the middle of making comments about another photograph when she reaches over to grab his wrist. "Wait, Yoongi."

He turns again to look at her, all surprised and confused.

“I thought u were--?” She's not even sure how to really ask what she wants to know, and that just leaves him looking even more lost.

"What are you talking about?" He asks, and when she doesn't immediately answer, he shrugs and looks down, moving his hand to turn the page again, except Mina tightens her hold on his wrist.

"I thought you liked guys," she mumbles, feeling embarrassed now that she has to be straightforward about it. At the question though, Yoongi actually puts his binder down before turning to face her.

She stares, waiting for an answer, or more of a reaction, but all he does is shrug, and once again Mina is baffled. "What does that--" She copies the gesture, frown lines etched across her face,  "--mean?"

"I don't like labels," he answers, gently taking his arm away from her, and focusing on his photographs again. This is his way of dropping it, she knows, but Mina really doesn’t know how to feel about his answer; now, more than ever she feels nothing but confusion.

  
  


They go together to the opening of his show; it's not exactly a solo - the gallery has chosen  a handful of young and talented photographers to showcase, and Yoongi, like Mina had assured him would happen a hundred and one times after he'd submitted his work, gets chosen.

It doesn't take long before she finds a particular photograph that catches her in surprise. "I don't remember you taking this," she murmurs as she stares at the picture in question. It was clearly taken on the day she first moved into their shared apartment; Jin and Hyejeong are in the same frame, but somehow (and maybe it's just plain narcissism on her own part), she feels as if she's the main subject. Her head is thrown back, and she can't even remember what they were all talking about, but she's laughing, and she looks so happy - which is perplexing, because if she remembers correctly, she'd been quite depressed at the time.

"I look in it," she begins, a certain realisation dawning on her. "I look in it, like I feel right now. Happy." She turns and faces Yoongi, her face lit up with with a big, genuine smile. "Thank you." It settles with her - it doesn't matter how muddled her thoughts are with regards to her feelings for Yoongi, he's been easily making her smile for the last six months, and that's what matters right now.

"What for?" He chuckles, rubbing the back of his neck in a sheepish manner. He doesn't look like he understands what in the world she's talking about, and that makes her laugh and elbow his side in a playful manner.

"Just know that I'm happy, and I'm thankful."

  
  


Wine (and cheese) are served at the opening, and even though Mina has no plans on getting drunk, she's feeling quite celebratory so she has a glass. Yoongi, who has managed to auction off some of his pictures, has one too. He looks pretty happy himself, and that compounds her own giddiness.

"Congratulations," she says to him, giggling as they walk home together. She recalls him telling her once that he has the worst tolerance for alcohol, but she had just assumed he was either being hyperbolic, or trying to make her feel better about her own lack of capability when it comes to drinking.

They both seem quite buzzed though, and it's looking more and more that Yoongi had been completely honest at the time.

“I can actually make a living out of this. Wow.” He keeps repeating the words to her over and over, clearly in awe, and Mina finds it so cute. He’s being like a child, so unlike his usual self, and she wants nothing more than to just wrap her arms around him.

And so she does. The hug is sudden, and she can tell that it catches Yoongi off guard; it doesn't help that they're right in the middle of the sidewalk, just a block away from their apartment. She feels weird doing it, but she doesn't immediately let go  - she likes being near him like this.

She's about to force herself to move away when she feels his arms go around her tiny frame, prompting her to simply relax in his hold. They stay like that for several seconds, forgetting that they're right out in the public; it's dark anyway, and residential streets are mostly empty during that time of night. When they both finally begin to pull away, their eyes meet and Mina feels something; some kind of spark that causes her heart to beat so furiously that it's almost scary.

She thinks he's about to kiss her, but then a taxi cab rolls along down the street and just like that, the moment is completely broken and they both step away from each other.

  
  


The walk up to their apartment is enveloped by pregnant silence, and Mina finds that she continuously wants to scream. She wants to at least _say something_ but once again, he beats her to it. (It's funny , she thinks - Mina is a rambler, but whenever it counts, Yoongi always talks first.)

“Mina.” All he says is her name, but his voice is low and serious that it sends shivers down her spine. She realises that he’s staring at her when she turns her head and their eyes meet.

“I think I might be in love with you.”

He says it so simply, so matter-of-fact and she's caught completely off-guard. Her eyes grow wide, and all she can do is continue staring at him.

"Where-  How-" She's tripping over her own words again. She's never really figured or thought that he could feel anything like that towards her. He'd always seemed so detached, like he was mostly humoring her - or was that just how _she'd_ chosen to view things?

It's so cliche, but memories of the last half year easily play in her head, and with his confession, she starts looking at them with a different set of metaphorical glasses. He’s always been there for her - this is why _she_ had started to fall for him, she just never thought he was doing any of it because he felt the same.

“I’m a complete mess,” she answers, embarrassed as her eyes start  to well up, and Yoongi just laughs like her tears or what she'd said doesn’t matter at all. “How--?”

“I know, but you’re a mess I want in my life,” he says, reaching up so he can cup her face with both of his hands.

They're standing right there, in front of their apartment door, and happy tears are falling down Mina's face, while Yoongi's just laughing, and leaning in to kiss the tears away. "Sssh," he tells her, but his shoulders are shaking, and he's clearly entertained by her reaction.

"I think I might be in love--" _with you too_ , is what she's about to say, but she doesn't get to finish, because he's pulling her in and interrupting her with his lips on hers.

  
  
  


_fin._


End file.
